USB Gadgets I Use..

[edtraveller]

1: 'Disposable' Mics -
Silver casing comes off with bit of care. Nice sound capture, good for risk taking due to cheap price - ie no hiding places and you need to leave by the door to walk around to avoid others. Small. Only drawback is they break after 1-2 months:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AK ... UTF8&psc=1

2: Middle of the Road - Walkaround Mic
Gray casing - not going to blend in but in dark corridors I notice if you plant vertically with mic hole up for exposure, the finish turns to black and very difficult to see. But leave horizontal and it's easy to spot. So I have one that I use for walking around to place at door gap. Nice sound as well. Better build than cheap unit. Will last forever.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0193 ... UTF8&psc=1

3: Premium (White)
White casing. Have placed vertical by door jam and white blends almost perfectly. So easy to hide. Blends also with white color fire alarm wall fixtures, can place on top wall valences, exit signs and even corridor a/c control if there are any - unless someone is looking for it, really hides well. Also records in MP3 rather than WAV. And you can toggle Vox/Continuous - be careful to choose the correct one! Also place to hide silvery thing. At it's price, I don't take risks with this - will not leave unguarded by door gap.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K2 ... UTF8&psc=1

4: Premium (Black)
Matte Black Casing. Very similar to white mentioned above - same features as white, but no silver tag to hide. Also, I think this has a better mic package than the white. The white is very good, but the black is noticeably better - Look at my Beverly Hills posts and go to the finale for room 520 - and that was at a door number panel and not the floor! Again, at it's price do not take unnecessary risks with this one. Also the only problem I had with this was after a few months, my computer wouldn't read it. I figured I had nothing to lose so did a reformat FAT on it - restored everything PERFECTLY without disrupting the recording firmware. Has been fine ever since.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CZ ... UTF8&psc=1

[thomas]

Thanks for the impressive description of your even more impressive equipment which is obviously contributing at least to some extent to your great success...

Is it possible that for device No 2 only voice-activated recording is possible? I think I purchased the same device and was a bit frustrated that it can only be driven under voice activation (which I do not like at all...). Did you find a workaround for this, or is your device simply different?

[LeStanf]

Hi,

I don't spend nearly as much money on my spy equipment as you do. I use two types of recorders:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LUJII-Recorder ... b+recorder

These cost $4 each. I also have some of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SODIAL-Stick-S ... b+recorder

which only cost £5.50. The advantage with spending so little is that It's not so painful when I lose them, which happens from time-to-time.

The quality of these devices is remarkably good. I stick black insulating tape over the silver patches on the casings which makes them difficult to spot on most dark carpets. There are occasions though where hotels have light carpets and even white painted floors next to room doorways, so your comment about the white recorder has given me an idea. I'm going to try painting one of my recorders white to see if that makes it easier to conceal in such circumstances. A bottle of plastic modelling paint should do the trick.

x x x x

L.

[edtraveller]

Hey LeStanf - VERY cool!!

Only thing that would potentially bother me on these are the reflective silver elements that could draw attention.

Thomas - sorry took so long to answer this. I have the same unit you do - which is different from the Db9pro - but housing looks exactly the same. There is no way to convert this to a regular recorder.

Cheers,

[thomas]

@gekko: thanks a lot, but how do you work with it then? did you ever got a good catch with this voice-activated recorder?

[physicist]

nice gadgets gekko, you really thought this thru!

This forums own james bond :p

Do USB devices ever record as good as olympus recorders?

[edtraveller]

So I have eliminated #1 from my list. Also gave a blistering review on Amazon. Lasting 1-2 months I could live with spending $12 each. But now it has decreased to 1-2 USES before malfunctioning or breaking..

[physicist]

So I have eliminated #1 from my list. Also gave a blistering review on Amazon. Lasting 1-2 months I could live with spending $12 each. But now it has decreased to 1-2 USES before malfunctioning or breaking..

These are probably cheap devices from alibaba sold after a hefty markup.

[edtraveller]

Hey Physicist - just read your last note from before. Actually you can compare for yourself - SoCAL Friday Night Couple C C1 and C2 are Olympus; C2 Oral and C3 are USB - the white version I mentioned above..

PS: James Bond - no likely - more like the board's own heroin crack meth junkie - except these sounds are my drug..

[yeppie]

PS: James Bond - no likely - more like the board's own heroin crack meth junkie - except these sounds are my drug..

Well, you´re an addict cooking his own meth, Which makes me a drug dealer ... I like that idea

[edtraveller]

PS: James Bond - no likely - more like the board's own heroin crack meth junkie - except these sounds are my drug..

Well, you´re an addict cooking his own meth, Which makes me a drug dealer ... I like that idea

[87warthunder87]

@gekko1 the really cheap usb recorders got insane ability to capture sound from places you couldn't even believe, I think that is the reason the break very quickly.

Question is, the 3 other usb's you posted can compete with the cheap usb in capturing that sounds ?

[Turmoil123]

That's my questions as well. How does the sound stack of the higher tiered devices?

[reggind]

Wow, the USB recorders are only lasting for one or two uses? That is awful. How do they die? I have only used mine a few times and not for anything fun, but they always worked after I gave them a good overnight charge. One of them would not save recordings a while back. I ran check disk on it. It took it a long time to run. I had thought it has hung in fact. But it did come back and it had found some errors and created some chk files. I removed all of them and ran check disk on it again and it came back clean and it has been working thereafter.

[sarmgk]

Since we are sharing...here is my go to recorders:

https://www.amazon.com/Uqique-Digital-V ... 177&sr=8-1

This is around half the size of a USB key thickness wise easily fits into door gaps. In fact I can fit it into the gap between the tank and lid of a toilet pretty easily. It can record continuous for around 9 hours on one charge. Records in WAV compressed format and runs around 100 megs per hour so only mono audio. There is a little red light that turns on momentarily to show recording has started but once that shuts off its very discrete.

Now if I have access to the house (think my neighbor recordings) I use this bad boy:

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-ICD-UX533BL ... b+recorder

Records in PCM WAV stereo audio. No size limitation except whatever you can afford for a microsd card. Recordings are around 1 GB per hour so a 32GB card can cover the battery life. It can record a good 28 hours straight continuous on one AAA battery. Thickness wise its about the size of a cell phone so I usually place this under beds/dressers. Once recording starts there are no lights/warning beeps if any kind, as the battery dies it just stops recording and shuts off.

This is a great idea for a topic and hope others share their equipment.